Florida firm wins $2.4B Coast Guard contract; possible BIW layoffs loom
Photo / Tim Greenway
Bath Iron Works lost a three-way competition to build a new series of Coast Guard cutters.
Courtesy / Bath Iron Works
A rendering of the new class of offshore patrol cutters.
Bath Iron Works lost a three-way competition for the Coast Guard’s largest shipbuilding contract to a Florida-based shipbuilder, a setback the company said earlier could lead to large layoffs at the Maine shipyard.
A $110.29 million contract was awarded Thursday to Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc. of Panama City, Fla., for the production of the lead Offshore Patrol Cutter, with the potential for up to eight follow-on cutters for a total value of $2.38 billion for nine cutters, according to the U.S. Coast Guard announcement.
BIW was competing with Eastern Shipbuilding and the Lockport, La.-based Bollinger Shipyards Lockport LLC to build the first of what could be 25 new coast guard cutters to replace the Coast Guard’s aging 29-ship fleet. According to the Bangor Daily News, the 25-cutter contract is projected to be worth approximately $11 billion.
In August, the BDN reported that BIW officials said that the contract would avoid laying off roughly 35%, or 1,200 manufacturing employees.
“I’m sure with the different reports that are out there of possibly 800 to 1,200 layoffs, I’m sure particularly some of our newer guys are going to start [worrying],” Rich Nolon, president of Local S6 of the Machinists union, told the BDN on Thursday when BIW learned it had lost the contract.
State leaders respond
“We intend to evaluate the details of the award to ensure that the Coast Guard properly met all of its decision criteria, and we will continue to do all that we can to support the highly-skilled men and women at BIW who do so much to support our nation’s security,” U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King said in a joint statement.
"This news is very disappointing as I am confident that their work on this contract would have been nothing short of their exceptional standard. I will investigate the Coast Guard's decision on this and will continue to support the nearly 6,000 highly skilled workers and the tremendous work they do to keep our nation safe," U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin said in a statement.
"No one builds higher quality ships than the men and women at Bath Iron Works,” U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a statement. “They have consistently turned out the best-built vessels possible for the Navy and would have done so for the Coast Guard. Going forward this makes it even more important to continue the fight to bring enough work to Bath to maintain employment levels. The workforce at BIW is an important national security asset that we must preserve."
Read more
BIW to receive another destroyer contract from Navy thanks to ship-swap agreement
BIW to submit bid for $12.1B Coast Guard cutter program
BIW awarded funding for construction of new ship
Navy budget proposal would provide BIW solid funding
Will BIW land the largest Coast Guard shipbuilding contract?
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments